Changes
by Tornadoamy
Summary: What happens to everyone after the fall of Hydra? Does Skye move on? Does Ward ever come back? Does Fitzwilliam become true? SkyeWard, Fitzsimmons and an addition of a new team member. Please RxR! Rated M just as a precautionary for later chapters.
1. After the Fall

A/N: Why hello there people who actually read the author notes! I love the show Agents of SHIELD, and I got really excited when I got the idea for my fanfic for it. I'm really sorry if I don't update often, but the story isn't over until I tell you guys it is. Trust me, this is not a one-shot. If you guys like this one, I'm also working on a regular Avengers fanfic so you can check that out too! Not trying to self advertise just giving a suggestion. RxR would be great so I can improve.

It had been a long day. The remaining agents of SHIELD, including Agent Coulson, May, Skye, and Fitzsimmons, were on the bus, headed to the secret base that Fury had given them coordinates to before he left, leaving Coulson to rebuild SHIELD from where they were currently, which was pretty much the bottom.

They landed at the secret base, nicknamed the Playground, and started healing, training, and preparing for whatever was to come. They all got badges and passed through orientation, and were free to roam the base, except for an area for only Security Level 10 agents could access, meaning Coulson. Everyone else was only level 8, so their badges couldn't open the giant metal door that looked like it was plucked straight out of some bank heist movie with bolts and a spinning wheel lock. The whole shebang.

They were all given rooms to sleep. Not bunks or six-feet-by-three-feet sections with a cot and one window, but full rooms. Rooms with queen-sized beds, a desk, couch, tv, computer, full bathrooms, a mini fridge, the works.

They were all assigned their own room, but Fitz and Simmons slept in the same room on many occasions. It wasn't because they were having sex, but rather that they found comfort in each other, and after being trapped at the bottom of the ocean, they both needed comfort. No one really knew what had happened when they were at the bottom of the ocean, but when Fitz was stabilized and woke up, Simmons kissed him without missing a beat, and Fitz gladly kissed her back. After Fitz had recovered to being able to get out of his bed, Simmons had basically made it her life mission to be by Fitz for the rest of his recovery if he needed support, which he did. She fully utilized the spacious area in his room to store medical supplies in case something happened to him.

Of course, even though their rooms were amazing, the team didn't really spend any time in them. They were always training, preparing, repairing, rebuilding, and recovering. Not just physically, and not just Fitzsimmons. Everyone had to mentally recover from the resurface of Hydra, as well as the betrayal of Ward.

Skye had the worst time with that one. Instead of dealing with it, she just distracted herself with other things. She trained with May to work on her strength, reflexes, strategies, and everything else May could teach her. Which, as it turns out, was a lot. They met every day at about 6:30, May being slightly against the late start, but Skye insisted.

They would train on body, combat, and Skye's favorite, weapons. There was an advert stress release from Skye firing a gun that made her smile a bit. But, even more when she started hitting the target center consistently. With the firearms, she learned knives, and archery, which Skye picked up pretty quickly, and became very skilled, very fast.

"You keep that up," May said after Skye shot five target centers with five arrows from a hundred away, "you'll be as good as Barton in a year or so."

Skye smiled and walked up to the covered area of the range where May was standing and where the arrows were. "You really think so?"

May smirked a bit. "Yes Skye. You have amazing potential with ranged weapons. You pick it all up fairly quickly."

"Thanks, May." Skye said, touched by May's compliment, "Hey, listen, Coulson wanted me back to try it see if we can find Ward. You know, so we can take him in and get some... stress release."

They started walking back to Skye's lab where everything she used and needed was placed and organized how she wanted it. She was really happy about having her own office, because it felt more real for her than just wherever she was working on the bus.

They got to Skye's office where Coulson was already standing. They walked to him, and he almost immediately scrunched his nose.

"What is that smell?" He said waving the air in front of his face.

"Sorry AC," Skye said, grabbing a towel from a shelf by the door and wiping her face, "we were training. But I'm here, so what do you need?"

"For you to take a shower. Please." He said taking a step back.

Skye smiled, put the towel around her neck, and walked to her room to get clean and out of her workout clothes.

While she was showering, Coulson and May started talking about where Ward may be after the defeat of Hydra. The hadn't found anything yet, but Coulson was having Skye do a weekly check for anything that could help find him.

No one wanted go find him as much as Skye did. Not only because she wanted to test her new skills on his face, but she missed him. She hated the idea of missing him because she didn't miss him, she missed his persona. The fake Ward she thought she knew. Not the monster that he truly was.

Every time Ward came to her mind she mentally smacked herself. After her shower she did the check of the week for facial recognition, credit card charges, cameras, ATMs, everything, and again, nothing surfaced. She figured he would have gotten a fake name by now so the credit card charges wasn't really that useful, but the fact that no camera ever caught his face ever was astonishing to her.

She finished the search, reported to Coulson that she found nothing again, and he didn't look surprised. She went to the lab to find Fitzsimmons working hard on building a machine to fire small capsules of nitrous oxide but remote controlled from a distance away. They were jabbering on to each other about something about chemicals and gears, when they noticed Skye standing at the door and stopped.

"Hello Skye," Simmons said in her usual perky voice, "how are you today?"

Skye walked through the door with her hands in her front pockets. "Good. How are you two doing?"

Fitz rolled his eyes. "I'm find but for some reason Simmons won't believe me and won't stop hounding me about it."

Simmons turned on her heels to face him. "Excuse me for caring about you. I almost lost you once. I'm not about to do it again."

Fitz smiled at his girlfriend. He walked forward to her, and kissed her. He put his hands on her face, but she couldn't put her hands on him because of the gloves she was wearing.

It was a sweet kiss, but it made Skye think of her kiss with Ward, and she got awkward. "Well, you two have fun. I'm going to bed."

They stopped and turned to her.

"Well," Simmons said, stripping her groves off her hands, "have a good night then, Skye. I'm done here off the night, and I think I'll turn in soon as well."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Jemma," Fitz chimed in, "I think I'll do that as well."

Great," Skye said while they looked at each other with a sparkle in both of their eyes, "then I'm gonna go now."

Skye started walking away when she heard Simmons voice shout out. "Have a good night Skye!"


	2. Since the Fall

**A/N: Why hello there! If you still read these author notes, then good for you! If you don't then I really don't know what to say because you'll never get the message anyways. I apologize if these chapters take a little longer than wanted to update, but I have four of these fanfics to write, and I love every one of them, so I'm not gonna stop any of them, but I'll try my very hardest to update as frequently as possible. Of course, having three months of nothing planned means I have lots of time too! I would appreciate RxRs like nothing else, but I won't beg...yet. I hope you enjoy this installment! **

Skye woke up the next day to an alarm set for 5:45. She sighed, and got up, getting ready for meeting May. She got dressed in her workout clothes, put her hair up in a ponytail, laced up her sneakers, and slapped herself a few times to wake up a little more. She left her room with her duffle bag, containing an extra change of clothes, a towel, a granola bar, and lots of water.

She walked into the training room at 6:15 to see May already there. She was standing, talking to Coulson. She walked up to them, and smiled. "Hey AC. May, ready to start?"

"Not today Skye," Coulson said, "there's something else you two are going to do, but I want this done before Fitzsimmons wakes up as well."

Skye was a bit confused. "O...kay. What's up?"

This time it was May who spoke. "There's something you need to know, Skye. It been happening since about a week after we got here after the Hydra fall."

"We wanted to know," Coulson interjected, "that he wouldn't be a liability again, and that he could be contained if he couldn't control himself, but most importantly, we needed to make sure that if anyone on this team saw him, they wouldn't kill him."

Skye wasn't any less confused, if not more. "That kind of raises more questions than answers." Coulson and May were silent, waiting for a reaction. "Who is 'he' exactly?"

"Ward." May said bluntly, with a stone hard expression.

Skye was speechless. She opened her mouth, to try to speak, but nothing came out. Coulson grabbed a chair near him and put it next to her, gently grabbing her arm to sit her down.

Skye gratefully sat down, putting her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. She stared at the ground trying to process the information in front of her. Ward was alive, they knew where he was, and he was here. Coulson knew where he was. He withheld if from her for months. "You knew this was happening," Skye said, barely a whisper, "you knew that he wasn't out there but you had me search." She raised her head to look up at him. "You knew what I was going through, I confided in you about all of this," her voice was growing louder with every word. She stood up to look Coulson directly in the eye. "You knew, _everything_, and you didn't tell me any of it." Her eyes started to well up, and she turned away from him.

Coulson kept a straight face, but there was hurt in his eyes. "Skye, I wanted you to cool down a little bit about everything with Ward before this. You searching for him was to help you with it all, to distract you, even for five minutes, just like the training. Everything you've told me over the past months, I've kept, and helped you with it." He stepped towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Skye turned around to look at Coulson, tears seconds from pooling out. Coulson wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She hugged him back, and was glad he was there for comfort. Then the tears overflowed.

May, deciding this was private, stepped out of the room to two confused scientists staring at her.

"What's going on? Why does it sound like Skye's yelling?" Simmons asked, worried for her friend.

"Because she is." May responded as she walked through them.

"Wait," Fitz said, turning to May, "what's going on?"

"Come with me, and I'll tell you." May said over her shoulder. The scientists quickened their steps to catch up with May.

All of the team was in one room, all wanting answers from Coulson.

"When did he get here?" Fitz asked.

"Don't you think it's a bit unsafe to put a former Hydra agent in one of the most classified bases in the world?" Simmons questioned.

"Can we trust him? How can we be sure he's truthful?" Fitz.

"Where is he in the base? We haven't seen him anywhere and I'd assume he'd be hard to contain." Simmons.

"Are you only one watching him?" Fitzsimmons together.

While they were firing questions away like May at a shooting range, Skye stayed dead still and quiet. Fitzsimmons kept firing questions, never actually giving Coulson a chance to answer, until Skye spoke for the first time since since four hours ago when she yelled at the only father figure she had. "Can I see him?"

Everyone stopped moving and making noise to look at Skye, Fitzsimmons wide eyed, and slightly dropped jaws, May with the same stone face, Coulson with furrowed eyebrows. "Well?" Skye said, slightly annoyed that no one had answered.

"I don't think that would be wise." May said in a distant and cold tone.

"I don't care if it's wise. I want to know if I can." She looked directly at Coulson. "Can I see him?"

Coulson caved easily to her. "Sure. I think you all would benefit something from seeing him, however small."

Coulson rose from the chair he was sitting in, followed by Skye who stood almost simultaneously with him. Fitzsimmons stood together, holding hands. May rose last, and reluctantly at that. Coulson started walking and they all followed like ducklings with their mother...or father duck.

They came to the sealed door with the SHIELD seal, and big red letters reading, "AREA 10". Coulson pressed his badge into the sensor by the door, and then pressed his thumb on the finger pad.

The door opened, revealing a steel room with an elevator door, another badge censor and fingerprint scanner. In front of the door, was a girl, maybe 18 at most, with a few deep purple streaks in her jet black straight hair reaching a bit below her shoulders, and a black outfit, with the SHIELD seal on the shirt. She was about the same height as Coulson, if not a bit taller. She was smirking, but quickly frowned when she saw the entourage Coulson had.

"Coulson..." She sounded worried and confused. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yes." Coulson said, smiling. "Do you know what you're doing, Gwyneth?"

"Let's hope so." And with that, Coulson turned to the team and gestured to Gwyneth. "Everyone, this is Gwyneth Stark. She's been overseeing Ward's progress during the last few months."

"Stark," Fitz said slowly, "like..."

"Yes," Gwyneth said smirking at Fitz, "Stark. As in Tony Stark. He's my father."

And all the jaws, including May's, hit the floor.

Gwyneth looked at Coulson. "Well. That went better than expected. Level five, I assume?"

"Right, as always." Coulson said casually. They both turned towards the elevator, and entered the information to raise a panel to access the down button. Gwyneth pressed it, and looked at the shocked agents behind her. "If I'm surprising to you, get ready for worse."

And then the elevator doors opened.


	3. Area 8

**A/N: So here we go. I'm so happy that you guys like this, and don't worry kajtena, Ward isn't a psycho, or at least I don't intend for him to be one. I guess you'll just have to wait and see...Hehehehe.**

The team walked onto the elevator with Gwyneth. Skye looked at her once more. Black everything except her fair skin, purple streaks and heels, maybe two inches, that matched her streaks, but with a gold circle at the ankle. She also had a gold bracelet on each of her wrists.

The elevator was a room of mirrors, with a bar waist high stretching against the back mirror-wall. As the team walked on, Coulson and Gwyneth stepped aside to let them on first, and then got on, Gwyneth then Coulson. An eye scanner was attached to the front wall, and Gwyneth leaned over for it to scan her right eye.

The scanner turned green and a panel lifted up to reveal another scanner, Skye assumed for badges, and floor buttons going from one to seven. Skye tapped one of her bracelets on the scanner and pressed the "5" button. The light around it glowed purple and the elevator started moving.

"I see you changed the settings again." Coulson said with a straight face, looking forward to the elevator doors.

"Yeah well," Gwyneth said, also straight-faced, looking forward, "the system isn't that hard to adjust. Besides, the regular white light was kind of boring."

They looked at each other and smirked a big.

"I'm starting to see a theme here." Skye said, trying to break the silence.

Gwyneth turned her head to look at Skye, and grinned sweetly. "Most people do." she said jokingly.

"What are the gold bands for?" Simmons asked.

Gwyneth shifted her entire body to face the team. "I think you'll find out soon enough."

"Where are we going exactly?" Fitz asked, as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Well," Gwyneth said, glaring at Coulson a bit, "this used to be Area 10, although it's apparently Area 8 now."

They all got off the elevator, and Gwyneth started walking down a large hallway, Gwyneth leading with Coulson at her shoulder, with the rest of the team following behind in a semi clump.

"This," Gwyneth started again, "is where a certain project, Project R.E.H.A.B., has been taking place for the last few months. It was originally planned for a year, and then it would become level eight clearance," a glare at Coulson, "but apparently that was changed to a third of that time. As you may have guessed, this project is centered around Grant, and it's making great progress. I've been directly related in Grant's recovery and development in this, Coulson comes in and supervises and observes mostly." They turned left into branch off the main hallway. "This project has been active since about three weeks after your original entrance in the base. Grant has been here the whole time, but he is not aware of where he is. Tracking devices are diverged by this base, and there is a forest above us, so satellites don't detect just a blank area, because that would also be extremely obvious. Grant was transferred here when he was...unconscious as we'll say. The idea of security and his loyalty position, and the element of trust is constantly in question with us, but it's being handled, in my opinion, quite well."

They turned another corner in the hallway. The length of the hallway amazed Skye. They walked a bit down this hallway when Skye saw a teenage boy, maybe seventeen like Gwyneth, but with sandy blonde hair, and green eyes, sitting on the floor, back against the wall. When he saw the group, his face lit up with the toothiest grin, almost touching his ears, as he stood up, taking a few steps to meet them in the hallway.

Gwyneth stopped as she met him, and smiled as well, but not as large. "What do you want Jackson?" She crossed her arms, facing him.

He held out his hand, which was in a fist, and opened it to her. In his hand was a necklace. A silver chain with a silver pendant and a pearl attached. The pendant was engraved with a black arrow with a line through the tail, a bit below the arrow head. The Sagittarius zodiac sign.

When Gwyneth saw it, she put her hand to her to her chest and became wide eyed, smiling even more. "Oh thank you so much. You have no idea how much I need this."

"Oh please," Jackson said jokingly as she turned for him to put the necklace on her, "after seventeen years, I think I do. Although," he said as he pulled her hair out of the way, and putting t he necklace around her neck, turning her to face him, "I wouldn't be against you showing me how much you need me."

He smirked, and she shoved his shoulder a bit, playing with the necklace a little bit. "This. Not you." She grinned at him, and he pulled her by the waist into him, and kissed her.

He pulled back, and smiled at her. "So, who's the gallery over there." He said, nodding his head towards the team.

"Level eight." Gwyneth said, stepping out of his grasp.

"Oh dear god. How much do they know?" He said, immediately dropping his grin.

"Well, I was telling them everything related to the project, and then you distracted me." She turned to Coulson. "Where was I?"

"Ward's liability issues." Coulson said, a small grin playing at his mouth at the teenagers.

"Right," Jackson said slowly, "but with this genius' tech work, it's not a problem anymore."

Gwyneth pushed him a bit again. "Shut it Rogers. Are you gonna come with us or not?"

"And miss the face of Agent Skye when she Grant Ward for the first time since his betrayal? I wouldn't dream of it."

"Wait," Skye interjected, making the two teens turn, "Rogers? You're related to Steve Rogers?"

"Jackson Rogers," Jackson said, holding out his hand to Skye, "son of Steve Rogers, yes."

"Wow," Skye said, amazed at it, "you're Captain America's son. How is that possible? I mean, Iron Man and Captain America don't have any kids. They're not even married."

"Not now," Jackson said, "but, I mean, you're not married to," Gwyneth coughed and Jackson looked at her, then back at Skye, "you're not married, but not forever."

"Wait," Fitz jumped in, "are you saying you used time travel? That's impossible."

Gwyneth rolled her eyes. "Really? You live in a world where you willingly accept that aliens and super humans exist, and with that, you work with the best technology in the world, and yet you believe that time travel will stay non existent forever?"

Jackson chuckled a bit. "Simpletons. Hey, I forgot to ask, how much damage did you do, without that thing." He pointed to Gwyneth's necklace, making small circles with his finger.

"Not too much. Course, it drained me a bit, and Grant helped with it, but I think it's getting better."

"Grant helped you?" Skye asked in disbelief. "Grant Ward helped you with something?"

Gwyneth held up the pendant on the necklace. "Who do you think made this?"

And with that, they all walked down the hallway to an open area, with rooms on every wall with giant glass windows looking into each room. Skye looked at all the rooms, stopping to do a double take at one room in which a man with jet black hair was attacking a punching bag with his fists. She walked over to the room window and watched in disbelief.

"Welcome," Gwyneth said walking over to Skye so they were shoulder to shoulder, "to Area 8."

Skye was wide eyed, shocked out of her mind. There was no visible expression on her face other than disbelief. All that escaped Skye's mouth was one word. "Ward."

"Get some popcorn," Jackson said behind them, "this is going to be good."


	4. Terms

**A/N: So, if you read the description and the categories and all that jazz, you'd probably be able to guess where this is going. But if you don't, then have fun figuring it out as you go along. And to bellapaige88, I can totally understand your review don't worry, and all of your questions I'm going to answer soon, or you can go look at my Avengers fic if you need answers RIGHT NOW.**

Skye was speechless. She finally saw what she had dreamed of but also what gave her nightmares. Ward was here, alive, and lethally attractive. He had his back to the window, working the punching bag, and Skye didn't know if she wanted him to turn around or stay oblivious to Skye watching him.

He did eventually turn around, and stare directly at the window. He paused right where he was, his mouth slightly open, with the faint expression of shock, but like always his face was almost impossible to read. He stood staring at Skye until he looked slightly to his right at Gwyneth.

Gwyneth pressed a button on the wall next to her, and it lit up with a golden light. "Hey Grant." She spoke calmly in a regular voice, even though the window had to be sound proof for Ward not to initially hear them.

Ward allowed the smallest of smiles to be drawn on his face as he looked down at his wrapped hands, which had spots of red on the fabric he used to wrap them. "Hey Gwyneth. What's going on?" He spoke carefully, and slowly, as if to not to say the wrong thing. His face was high, just like when Skye had accused him of having something to do with her getting shot.

Gwyneth let out a slight laugh. "If I need to tell you then you must have hit yourself on that bag."

Ward ran a hand through his hair. He looked directly at Skye, and his voice was still high, but this time more quiet. "Skye...I-".

Skye gave a tiny smile and looked down at her shoes.

Ward walked toward the window, until he was directly in front of Skye. "I am so sorry for everything and anything that happened."

"Ward," Gwyneth interjected bluntly, "please keep in mind that everyone in this room can hear you right now. If you two want to talk, or whatever the hell you two want to do, I would recommend Skye go in the room with you so no one outside can hear. I can also turn the screen on so no one can see, but you know the terms of that, right?"

Ward looked at Gwyneth and grinned a bit. "I know the terms, Gwyneth, but if Skye wants to, I would appreciate it."

Skye looked at Gwyneth, confused. "What are the terms?"

"I can make that room sound proof from the outside, as well as the window blacked out so no one out here can see in, or see out, but I have to be in the room with Grant while that is happening."

Skye thought for a moment. No one would see or hear them, except Gwyneth. They could talk, and if needed, she could best him up, without anyone else there. She nodded her head. "Okay. I'll do that."

Ward's grin became even bigger, as he watched Gwyneth lead Skye to the door that allowed access to Ward's room. Once they got in, Gwyneth swiped her bracelet over a scanner and a red light above the door turned on, the cameras in the room went dead, and the window turned black.

"Okay," Gwyneth said, once the window was completely black, "you're officially invisible to everyone and everything outside this room." She pulled a chair from the table near her. "Go do whatever you two want to do, and I'll be here if someone throws a punch."

Skye looked at Gwyneth. "And he can't lie?"

Gwyneth looked up at Ward. "Not with that lie detector in." She spoke very calmly and bluntly.

Skye took a step towards Ward. "What's your name?"

Ward smiled at her. "Grant Ward."

Skye stayed were she was."What was your job with Hydra?"

"I was a spy trained for long term undercover missions to get information and report it back to Garrett."

"What did you tell him about the team?"

"Everything that I knew. Anything that I could find, except sleeping with May, and my relationship with you. He knew that I had feelings for you, but I never said any details of it."

"Throughout the time that we were on the team together, what part of us was a lie?" Tears started welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them come out. Not in front of him, not know, not here.

"None of the time I spent with you. Anything about me or my family, any time I ever expressed my feelings for you, when we kissed, none of that was a lie." He took a step forward then paused. "Skye, I never lied to you." He fell down grunting in pain.

"Liar." Gwyneth chimed in with a singsong voice.

Ward regained his footing and stood up again. "Okay fine, let me rephrase that. I never once pretended emotion for you. Anything I told you that I felt, or anything that happened before you...you know, let me die from a heart attack."

"Okay, but in my defense, you didn't permanently die. You came back. Plus, you had just told me me that nothing was personal and the whole betrayal thing."

Ward smiled. Neither of them had moved any more, both standing completely still. Skye had gotten her watering eyes almost under control.

"What are you thinking right now?" She said, trying to regain her composure.

"I'm thinking," Ward said slowly and lovingly, taking a single step towards her, so they were about ten feet away from each other, "that I haven't seen you since you threw a punch at me and then May attacked me. I'm thinking that I haven't been able to see or hear you in more months than I would care for. I'm thinking about the last time we kissed, and even though you were only doing it so I wouldn't know you knew that I was a spy, it was still the most passionate and amazing thing I had ever felt, excluding the time you kissed me in the closet. I'm thinking about that, and thinking of how much I want to do it again, and how much restraint it's taking to not walk up to you and hold you by the waist and kiss you for eternity."

"Ward," Skye said sweetly while taking a step forward, "try to condense it for me."

"Skye," Ward said, taking another step closer so they were only five feet apart, "I love you. I always have and I can guarantee you I always will."

Skye's vision started getting blurry. She looked down, putting her hand to her face, trying to keep from crying. She pushed her eyelids shut, concentrating on keeping calm, when she felt a finger on her chin.

The finger lifted her chin up to see Ward up close. He looked at her worried and placed his hand on her cheek, cupping it in comfort. Skye closed her eyes as he moved his thumb under her eye, wiping a tear away. He held her face with his other hand as well.

Skye looked down, then back up at him, smiling through her tears. "Grant," she said softly, "I love you too."

Wards face grew a smile, ear to ear, as he leaned in and kissed her. It was a soft kiss, but Skye immediately responded and kissed him back.

After a few seconds, they pulled back for air, both wearing the widest smiles imaginable. Ward ran a hand over her hair, and placed a kiss on her forehead. "You have no idea how long I've been imagining this moment, and how many different scenarios I've played out in my head."

"How does this compare to your imagination?" Skye asked.

"This, right here, you," he rubbed his hands up and down her forearms, "wins by a landslide." He kissed her forehead again, and murmured into her hair. "You are so beautiful Skye."

Skye looked up to meet Ward's eyes, then raised herself up to kiss him. It was slow and sweet, but at the same time passionate and demanding. Skye slipped her arms around his neck, efficiently pulling him down to her while her hands went to his hair. Ward grabbed her hips and pulled her to him so their bodies were pressed together.

They eventually came up for air, but didn't let go of each other. Ward's hands had moved from Skye's hips to her lower back, keeping her pressed up against him so their chests, stomachs and thighs were touching. Skye could feel his muscles through his shirt and was not upset about it.

"I love you Skye," Ward said quietly, "and I would never dream of doing anything that would hurt you. I hope you know that."

Skye looked him in the eye, then rested her head on his shoulder. He moved one of his hands higher on her back, and put his chin on the top of her head, starting a slight sway back and forth. Skye was more relaxed and comfortable, until they hear someone clear their throat.

They broke away from each other, looking in the direction of the noise, which of course was Gwyneth standing up with her arms crossed.

"Listen," she said, with the same attitude as her father, "you two? Super adorable, I mean, you're cute together. I get it, and from what I'm getting from you two, your story is pretty romantic, and you two making out I'm sure is fun for you, but I really don't want you two to go any further, and I know you two were about to. You do that when I'm not around. But that aside, Coulson needs you two in the hallway."

Ward raised his eyebrows. "How do you know that? No one can see or hear us."

"Well, Grant, I know this might scare you, but there's this thing called texting," she put air quotes around texting, "and it's a way for people to talk to each other without having to see or hear them."

"Ha ha Gwyneth." Ward said dryly.

Gwyneth gestured towards the door for them to go into the hallway, and they did without putting up a fight.


	5. Is it True?

Gwyneth walked out of the room with Skye, turning off the blinders and sound block so Ward could be seen and heard as well as see and hear.

Gwyneth walked over to Jackson and raised an eyebrow. He got out his wallet and gave her a ten dollar bill. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Whatcha need AC?" Skye asked, meeting the rest of the team in the hallway.

"As you all know," Coulson said, "Mr. Ward is asking to be reinstated into the team. Now, once he's cleared by Miss Stark, and he's passed orientation, there will be no legal borders for him, but there will be personal ones. I want each of you to spend some time with him, and hopefully regain some trust in him. This team can't function with trust, and if he's going to rejoin the team, he'll need to be trusted. I understand this will take some time, and Mr. Ward has agreed to be patient with the process."

"How do we know he won't lie again?" Fitz asked.

"I have it under control." Gwyneth said calmly.

"No offense, but how do we know your plan will work?" Simmons asked.

"Skeptics." Gwyneth mumbled under her breath. "Grant. Show 'em." Grant pulled his shirt collar down, to reveal the detector. "Lie detector. I've got it under control. Plus, I'm going to be working with Grant and you all are more than welcome to observe."

"Why do you trust him so much?" May asked stone-faced as always.

"Stuff happens," Jackson interjected, getting defensive, "and Ward was there for Gwyneth when she needed it. The things he's done for her would earn anyone's trust for life."

Gwyneth put her hand on Jackson's arm softly as she spoke to the team. "Grant earned my trust, as he'll earn yours as well. Once he passes orientation though, he'll need a Supervising Officer."

She, as well as everyone else, looked at Skye. Skye hesitated a bit. "Can I think about it?"

Gwyneth let out a small laugh. "You have a while to consider it before you have to decide anything. You should all go back to your training and whatever you do in Area 7, but if you ever want to come down here then just get Coulson or I and we'll allow your access."

"Great," Fitz said, "when does 'Project R.E.H.A.B.' end?"

"Whenever I say it ends." Gwyneth said, adding a splash of sass. She looked at Ward. "Ready for this?"

Grant smiled. "Whatever it takes."

Coulson had insisted that everyone go back up and focus on something else for the day, allowing them to process the morning slowly.

Fitzsimmons went straight back to the lab, working on some invention, and May and Skye went back to training. They went to the gym and worked on hand-on-hand combat, something of which Skye needed practice with.

"Okay, what is this one called again?" Skye asked as they both got ready to repeat a combat strategy.

May smiled. "It's called a grip hold, but other people would call it the 'Thighs of Death' or something along those lines. Ready?"

Skye nodded and May came at her. It didn't take long for May to get Skye on the mat, and her thighs mashing Skye's face.

"From there," May said, releasing Skye, "you can twist and make them flip over, hitting the ground, or just keep hitting them. It's your choice."

"Okay, got it," Skye said, standing up, "let's go again."

"I think you could use a break Skye." May said, the slightest smile across her mouth.

Skye nodded gratefully and walked over to her water, May following her.

"I'm sorry. I'm not getting this very easily." Skye said after chugging half of her water bottle.

May shook her head. "Don't apologize. You have the strength, and you can pick it up quickly, you just aren't as focused today, which is understandable. Anything you want to talk about?"

Skye sunk down into the foldable chair next to her. "A lot of stuff, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I was just gonna make Coulson listen later."

May sat down next to her. "It's not uncomfortable for me, but you need to get it off your chest. It's a way to help yourself understand and process what happened."

Skye looked at May, and May raised her eyebrows, waiting for her to start talking.

As they were talking, Coulson walked in to talk to them, but stopped at the door when he saw them, unseen by the girls.

"Not awkward?" Skye asked.

"Not awkward." May answered.

"I don't even know where to start." Skye sighed and drank some more water.

"Start where you first talked to him, where it was only you and him. What happened?"

"A lot of stuff. He showed me the lie detector, and I can understand that. I mean, he wants me to know that I can trust him, and it works, I saw it, but after that I started asking him questions. Just rapid fire questions that I've needed answers for since the fall, and he answered without hesitation."

"What kind of questions?" May asked, her voice curious but her face it's usual.

"It started simple, just to make sure the detector worked, his name and job with HYDRA, but then we got into him lying to me, and faking emotions, and what he told Garrett."

"What did he say?" Mays face had become a bit softer, and Skye could tell she was trying to help Skye process it all.

"He said...he said that he never faked anything with me. That everything was real, that he never lied to me about what was between us. He told me he loved me, May."

Skye had started tearing up, and May moved to place her hand on her Skye's arm. "Okay, Skye. You don't have to say anything else. You can take your break and eat lunch. We can start again later or call it a day."

"Can we just call it a day?" Skye asked, regaining her composure.

"Sure. I'll clean everything up, you go take a shower." May smiled a bit, and Skye nodded gratefully.

As they got up, Coulson, who could hear the entire conversation, thought for a moment, and then went down to the new Area 8, trying to find Gwyneth.

Sure enough, Gwyneth was in the room with Ward, playing darts. "Stark!" He practically shouted at them.

"Yo, Coulson," Gwyneth said, covering her ears, "you don't need to scream. You're already amplified in here."

"Sorry," Coulson said, lowering his voice a bit, "put the room under the veil. I'm coming in there."

Gwyneth shook her head. "I can't just keep doing it fifty times. The amount of energy it takes, I can do it three times a day, max."

Coulson was getting impatient. "How many times have you done it today?"

"Once with Skye, but I-"

"So you can do it again." Coulson cut her off.

Gwyneth sighed. "Give me a reason to do it, and I'll do it, but Coulson I can't just do it because. I need a reason incase Hill asks."

"I need to know something, and I'd prefer if it wasn't on record." Coulson said, slightly pleading.

Gwyneth looked at Ward. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Ward thought for a minute. This morning with Skye, they all left to absorb what had happened, he knew Skye was known for venting, Coulson was close to her. Suddenly, it clicked. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure I do."

Gwyneth looked at Coulson and hesitated a moment before opening the door. Coulson walked in and Gwyneth lowered the veil, blocking everyone else out.

"Okay," Gwyneth said, walking back towards Ward, Coulson right behind her, "you two can yell and talk to your hearts' content. I'll be here if anyone needs me or throws a punch."

Coulson nodded to her before walking up to Ward, standing a few feet from him. "Is it true? What you told her?"

"It's hard to not tell the truth with this thing in me." Ward tapped the detector.

"I didn't ask if the detector went off or what it does. Is what you said true? Do you mean it? To your core?"

Ward's face softened a bit. "More than I can ever put into words, sir."

Coulson looked at him for a second, not saying anything, just considering what Ward had just told him. "Don't be stupid. If you hurt her, I will kill you."

Ward stiffened a bit, obviously intimidated. "I've never doubted that, sir."

Coulson tilted his head a bit and nodded. "Good. That's all."

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Gwyneth asked from across the room. "You made me drop the veil for thirty seconds where you didn't actually say anything specific? Do you even understand how much energy the veil uses? I mean, the least you could do is tell me what you're talking about."

Both men looked at her. "Skye." Ward said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," Gwyneth said smiling, "okay. Carry on then."

Coulson rolled his eyes while smiling. She was a bit much sometimes, but he couldn't help but smile at her. "So, now can I go?"

Gwyneth shrugged as she looked down at her nails, inspecting them. "I don't know. You're the director." She looked up and smiled at him. She nodded her head sideways, in the direction of the door. Coulson grinned and walked to the door, followed by Gwyneth. She did the required security measures and Coulson left, Gwyneth closing the door and walking to Ward.

"So today has been interesting, wouldn't you say?" Gwyneth smirked and walked past Ward to the punching bag and turned to look at him. "Are we gonna train or just stand here and talk about our feelings?"

Ward grinned at her and walked to her and the bag.

They trained for about an hour before Ward basically passed out in his chair. "Okay," he said between exhausted breaths and gulps of water, "we can talk about our feelings if it means I get a break."

Gwyneth sat in the chair next to him and looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "You would rather talk about your feelings than punch a bag and get all your frustration out?"

"If it means you stop yelling at me and our training can pause, then yes, let's talk about our feelings."

"God you've changed since I started with you. Going from a closed off shell to...this." She gestured to him, and he chuckled.

"You and I both know that you're basically the only person I do this with. So how's the necklace working?" He pointed to her pendant.

"You tell me. I haven't destroyed anything lately...or killed someone." They both knew how heavily the sarcasm was draped over her answer, and it left both of them grinning. "Okay," she started up again, "what's going inside you right now?"

Ward looked up and sighed. "A lot." Gwyneth raised an eyebrow and he continued. "Happiness seeing Skye, fear over whether or not she still could stand looking at me, relief and joy after I finally got to touch and talk to her again,-".

"And then some." Gwyneth mumbled.

Ward grinned devilishly. "Yeah, that too. I just don't want to hurt her again. Purposely or accidentally, ya know?"

Gwyneth and nodded. "I know you don't want to hurt anyone Grant, ever. I think Skye knows that too."

There was a moment of silence before Gwyneth picked at painful scar she knew he wasn't going to like. "If I brought Daniel in here, what would happen?"

Ward clenched his jaw at the mention of his older brother. "I don't want to talk about him."

"I know," Gwyneth's voice was soft and comforting, "but before I can clear you, I need to be sure you to be able to talk about anything during orientation. Your family is going to come up."

Ward let out a breath and looked down, resting his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands. "I'd punch him until he stopped breathing."

Gwyneth whistled. "Okay, that's the most violent answer I've heard in a few months from you."

Ward looked at her. "Gwyneth, he killed Ben and made me take the blame for it. My family disowned me and doesn't acknowledge my existent because of him. I wouldn't have met Garrett, I wouldn't have hurt everyone. I wouldn't have hurt Skye." His voice cracked a bit on the last sentence.

Gwyneth bit her lip. She knew this was hard for him, and she hated seeing him in pain. Through her entire life he had been there to protect her from pain, and now it was her turn to do the same for him. "But you wouldn't have met Skye."

"Are you saying I should be _grateful_ for the bastard?" Ward looked directly at her, his voice filled with pent up rage.

"No," Gwyneth said leaning back from him, scared from his voice, "oh god no. I'm just trying to show you the good in your situation and not the evil, but as always, I'm terrible at comforting people."

Grant's face softened a bit, seeing how frightened she was. "I'm sorry Gwyn, I just don't want to talk about this."

Gwyneth nodded and stood up, walking to a panel of buttons on the far wall. She hit a few and then scanned her thumbs and the veil started fading. "Alright, before Hill storms in yelling about what we're doing, let's beat something up."

She walked to him, about to pass him when he grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him. "Instead of me being worked to death, how 'bout we change the pace and work on you?"

"I'm fine. I'm perfect." Gwyneth said in a peppy version of her father's voice while flicking her hair.

Ward nodded sarcastically while grinning. "Really?"

"Really." Gwyneth answered smirking.

"Then take off the necklace." Grant said raising an eyebrow at her, nodded at her neck.

Gwyneth stared at him and huffed before rolling her eyes and walking towards the door. "_Fine._"

They walked out of the room, into the hallway, and to a room with the number one written on paint. Gwyneth nodded at the guard in front of the door, and he moved aside, opening the door for the two of them, never looking it the room, only straight forward.

Gwyneth and Ward walked in and closed the door behind them. It was extremely large, and most of it was empty, as if they were waiting for something to come in go put in it. There were a few tables and everything seemed very hard, nothing fragile. The room was lit by lamps and lights everywhere. Some white, some colored, but there were so many of them, in corners, on the ceiling, on tables, that it took Ward a couple times in there to notice there weren't any windows. Almost everything had purple on it, including some of the lights.

Ward grinned at the room. "I feel like you made this room more purple since the last time we trained in here, if that's even possible." He walked into the middle of the room before turning back to Gwyneth.

Gwyneth chuckled. She looked at Ward nervously before reaching behind her neck and taking off her necklace.


End file.
